In corporate organization nomenclature, ‘CMO’ typically means ‘Chief Marketing Officer.’ The C-level title was created as a result of the marketing function being strategic to the enterprise and part of those who report directly to the CEO.

More recently, organizations have realized that mobile and wireless are becoming more of a strategic asset to the enterprise.  As a result, we’re going to see the title of Chief Mobility Office – another CMO – begin to be designated in many larger companies.  Here’s why.

In the ‘old days,’ the person responsible for mobile in an organization was a staff person working in the Information Technology (IT) department.  This person was responsible for buying and managing laptops and keeping them connected to the enterprise’s private network.

Responsibilities increased (or another person was hired) to manage the content on the notebook’s hard disk drive (HDD) -- which included all of the application software from a common disk image, updates to software made on many mobile systems in the field (using products like Sybase Afaria), as well as backup, repair and maintenance.

Responsibilities increased again (and, most likely, a new person was hired) to manage the acquisition of RIM BlackBerry devices that provided people out of the office with easy access to email.   This required hiring more staff to manage the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, another centralized server that manages the operation of the BlackBerry units in the field -- including connectivity to the firm’s email system such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes.

Mobile responsibilities grew again when more handheld devices came to market.  And then, as the company would open other offices, mobile responsibilities grew again to cover remote access and being able to work with multiple wireless operators.

But, everything has now changed.  Just a few years ago, all of the mobile responsibilities were ‘internal-facing’ – where mobile was all about enabling employee productivity.  More recently, the IT organization has been tasked by the CEO to create ‘external-facing’ mobility – where the IT organization has to develop and deploy software and services that support the company’s customers accessing the company’s resources.  Just think about this and you’ll realize it’s happening everywhere: Bank of America has iPhone and BlackBerry applications that now allow millions of customers to access their bank accounts, make payments and transfer funds.  Delta has developed mobile check-in so passengers can show a 2D bar code on their handheld boarding pass when going through security.

With the added responsibilities of supporting externally-facing mobile activities toward customers, mobile IT has now migrated from simply being a staff to assuming a central, key role in how the company interacts with customers (directly affecting revenue and profit).  Thus, the new Chief Mobility Officer sits at the table with the CEO to map out how to use mobility to best help run the company.

I considered using the title ‘Chief Wireless Officer’ instead of Chief Mobility Officer to make the acronym CWO different from Chief Marketing Officer.  However, wireless is a technology used to implement and facilitate mobility.  So, I felt that Chief Mobility Officer was a more fitting term.  The important takeaway here is that someone needs to be responsible for all of the internal and external mobile and wireless activities in the organization.

So, the next time you’re at a party and someone says, “I’m CMO at my company,” you can ask them if they are the Chief Mobility Officer.  It could become one of the most important strategic positions in the organization.

Written By:

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Mobile & Wireless
MobileTrax LLC
gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com
404-406-5309
 
Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column.  If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.